Ashley Lang joined ArchTam 26 years ago after working in the government sector. She has held various major program delivery, operational and work-winning leadership roles in Australia and Asia, including leading ArchTam’s Asia Pacific oil & gas business and, most recently, as Environment & Energy regional business line director in Australia and New Zealand.

Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry.

My dad was a high school mathematics teacher, and he encouraged me in this area from a young age. My interest in science and engineering also grew over time, and I wanted to play my part in leaving a healthy planet for future generations. I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to play a role in many community-shaping projects, from iconic infrastructure to land remediation and renewal.

What is your favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why?

Earlier in my career, I led an asset decommissioning program for one of our global Energy clients across Southeast Asia. These were former fuel storage facilities, some of which were in close proximity to residential areas. It was my second time working in ArchTam’s Asia business and another opportunity to work with teams and communities from diverse cultural and experiential backgrounds.

A key challenge in the program was receiving feedback from the communities adjacent to our works and engaging with them on technical topics in an authentic and culturally appropriate way. We overcame this challenge by recruiting additional support from our native-speaking team members and client representatives. We also worked with community leaders to hear concerns and communicate how we would mitigate them.

While quite challenging for me at the time, I reflect on this as a formative period in my personal and professional growth. I was tested to apply my knowledge and experience in new and different ways and was pushed outside my comfort zone like never before. I have applied the lessons that I learned from this experience in my other roles.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.

I’ve had the opportunity to work on many large-scale urban redevelopments throughout my career, including the iconic Docklands precinct — one of Australia’s largest urban renewal projects, reconnecting central Melbourne with its historic waterfront.

Formerly industrial development dating back to the 1800s, these inner-city areas were identified for revitalization, and ArchTam played a lead role as a technical advisor to the government. Over several years, I worked on the precinct and infrastructure master planning, contaminated land investigation and large-scale remediation.

Today, Melbourne’s Docklands is a mix of commercial, residential and community spaces, including parks and recreational facilities. Our ArchTam office is also located here, and when I come into our office and enjoy the community spaces with my family, I think of the immense community value our technical and project work has delivered.

Share a piece of career advice.

Say “yes” to opportunities when they present themselves and go outside of your comfort zone.

Moving from Australia to a technical leadership role in Vietnam and, two years later, transferring to Singapore as a country manager propelled my professional development. With the encouragement and support of my ArchTam leaders, I took the leap, and went on to gain some great leadership experience.

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When I was a young graduate, a senior professional at my company recognized my potential and ultimately became my mentor. Although it was very early in my career, this woman’s active and considerate approach to her coaching me left a lasting impression and shaped the way I learned to coach others over subsequent years.

She, and others like her, understood their own personal and professional goals and pursued them purposefully. I believe we achieve our full potential by embracing new challenges and stepping out of our comfort zone, while proactively seeking support from others along the way. When it comes to women, the more we encourage women professionals to seek out leadership roles in their organizations, the sooner gender diversity will become the norm.

Integration of our personal and professional lives is a common challenge, regardless of gender. While the concept is different for everyone, it comes up regularly in discussion with my women colleagues in particular.

I’ve been fortunate to have had managers and sponsors who encouraged me to pursue opportunities for further career development throughout my working life and who have supported me in doing so. I have two young children and working while raising a family is a challenge. ArchTam’s flexible working arrangements (especially after my children were first born) have allowed me to spend more time at home with my family while still developing professionally.

The managers and mentors I’ve had throughout most of my career have been men and I’ve received incredible support and encouragement, and never once felt as though I was treated differently because of my gender. Today, I report directly to ANZ chief executive Lara Poloni, and we are two of six women leaders on ArchTam’s Australia New Zealand executive leadership team. I’ve enjoyed my experience working with this leadership team and am happy with the change of pace.

ArchTam is encouraging the conversation around gender diversity through global and local Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, and I believe that dialogue between men and women, at all levels of the organization, is key to driving any kind of change. Good things take time, but it’s important that we don’t wait for change to fall into our laps — we must keep striving to achieve our goals.

Ashley Lang is market sector director, oil & gas, ANZ, and client account manager, based in Australia. She is responsible for business growth and overseeing service delivery for ArchTam’s oil & gas customers in ANZ. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and Master of Engineering and has held various technical, operational and business development leadership roles over her 23-year career. Ashley joined ArchTam in 1997.
LinkedIn: Ashley Lang

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